G.S. Lakie artistic production ‘LUNA’ is out of this world

By Kuhl, Nick on February 5, 2020.

G.S. Lakie Middle School dancers run through a number during a recent rehearsal at The Yates Memorial Theatre. Photo by Garrett Simmons/Lethbridge School Division

Garrett Simmons

Communications Officer,

Lethbridge School Division

G.S. Lakie Middle School’s dance production “LUNA” is a true school-wide project.

The artistic journey through the galaxy will include hundreds of middle-school performers from Lakie’s dance and music programs, who will be highlighted throughout the show.

“This show is a little unique in that we’re bridging science and the arts together, which was a really exciting project,” said Lakie’s Kristi Legge, the artistic director of “LUNA.” “We’re trying to make it educational for our audience as well as inspirational. Our Grade 6 teachers, they focus on the sky science curriculum and it lent itself great for this project.”

The school even brought in a planetarium to learn about constellations and hosted a photo shoot inside the structure with the dancers.

And while the talent of the dancers will certainly be centre stage, Legge added “LUNA” will showcase the skills of a wide variety of Lakie students.

“We have all of our art classes who are doing beautiful pieces that will be showcased in the gallery at intermission, as well as the drama students are doing little monologues in the lobby upstairs during intermission. We also have our choir involved, some live guitar pieces from Sheldon Avray’s guitar program, and we’ve also brought in some outside choreographers that the kids are really lucky to work with.”

Legge added LUNA has showcased how well Lakie can work as one to produce something amazing.

“It’s just exciting to bring the whole school together,” she said. “It’s really strengthening our community and it’s been great collaborating with such an amazing school. Everybody gets on board and helps out and we have over 200 performers involved, either during intermission or pre-show or on stage, so we’re really excited for it to come to fruition.”

Students outside Lakie have also had the opportunity to dance in the show.

“We also had a program open city wide to all Lethbridge School Division schools called YQL Movement with Koji Nagahama and Geordan Olson, and so we got to incorporate students that are not only at Lakie, so that was really cool,” said Legge.

That collaboration is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as Lakie has partnered with the first Canadian to walk in space, to add another cosmic dimension to the production.

“We collaborated with Chris Hadfield, which was very exciting,” said Legge. “We wanted to incorporate some of his inspirational videos off YouTube and he agreed to create a personalized message for us, which is a really special part of the show.”

The show is set for Feb. 13 at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., with student shows at 9:30 a.m. and noon. It will be held at the Yates Memorial Theatre, with a run time of approximately two hours.

Tickets for LUNA can be purchased by calling 403-329-SEAT.

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